Origin and history of mystification

direct statement; audience: the public IRONY: motive/aim: exclusiveness; province: statement of facts; method/means: mystification...

1821, artefact, "artificial production, anything made or modified by human art," from Italian artefatto, from Latin arte "by skill" (ablative of ars "art;" see art (n.)) + factum "thing made," from facere "to make, do" (from PIE root *dhe- "to set, put"). The word is attested in

c. 1400, "active or secular life," from Old French activité, from Medieval Latin activitatem (nominative activitas), a word in Scholastic philosophy, from Latin activus "active" (see active). The meaning "state of being active, briskness, liveliness" is recorded from 1520s; that

c. 1300, confusioun, "overthrow, ruin," from Old French confusion "disorder, confusion, shame" (11c.) and directly from Latin confusionem (nominative confusio) "a mingling, mixing, blending; confusion, disorder," noun of action from past-participle stem of confundere "to pour tog

"dead body of an animal," late 13c., from Anglo-French carcois, from or influenced by Old French charcois (Modern French carcasse) "trunk of a body, chest, carcass," and Anglo-Latin carcosium "dead body," all of unknown origin; original form uncertain. It may have been assimilate

early 15c., intervencioun, "intercession, intercessory prayer," Late Latin interventionem (nominative interventio) "an interposing, a giving security," literally "a coming between," noun of action from past-participle stem of Latin intervenire "to come between, interrupt," from i

late 14c., "guardian, custodian," from Old French tuteor "guardian, private teacher" (13c., Modern French tuteur), from Latin tutorem (nominative tutor) "guardian, watcher," from tutus, variant past participle of tueri "watch over, look at," a word of uncertain origin. De Vaan su

1540s, "clean, free from dirt," from Anglo-French neit, French net "clear, pure" (12c.), from Latin nitidus "well-favored, elegant, trim," literally "gleaming," from nitere "to shine," from PIE root *nei- "to shine" (source also of Middle Irish niam "gleam, splendor," niamda "shi

"characteristic of city life, pertaining to cities or towns," 1610s (but rare before 1830s), from Latin urbanus "of or pertaining to a city or city life; in Rome," also "in city fashion, polished, refined, cultivated, courteous," but also sometimes "witty, facetious, bold, impude

"containing much in comparatively small limits," 1610s, from French comprehénsif, from Late Latin comprehensivus, from comprehens-, past participle stem of Latin comprehendere "to take together, to unite; include; to comprehend, perceive" (to seize or take in the mind), from com